Rook(66)

Spear chuckled. “You mean that two Ancients could agree to meet at highmoon, wait until the clock says it’s highmoon, look up in the sky, and see the moon still rising?”

“Hence the preference for numbers on a clock,” she said, “rather than the symbol for highmoon.”

“That’s mad, Sophie,” Spear said.

René stretched his arms up behind his head. “No,” he said, holding Sophia’s eyes for a moment. “It is brilliant.”

She dropped her gaze back to the clock, so he could not see how ridiculously pleased that comment had made her.

“So, you start by pointing the finger at the time it is now,” Spear said quickly, “and by that I mean the time it really is …” He glanced once at the filmy windows, and moved the finger to just past the full yellow circle, the symbol for highsun. “And then you turn the wheel …” He spun the clock around to show a small, flat wheel on the back of the box, sun and moon symbols also neatly painted. “… and point it to the time you want the machine to work.”

Sophia looked at Spear sidelong, smiling a little, watching him turn the wheel to just past highsun. He really was clever to have made this, and it was obvious that he was enjoying the opportunity to show off the firelighter, whether he had wanted René to see it or not.

“Then pull out this knob here …” He put a finger on the knob beside the wheel. “… and the machine will be set.”

“And what does it do, Hammond, when you set the time?” René asked.

Spear pulled out the knob instead of answering, the iron arm of the apparatus on top of the box moving upward on its own. They waited, listening to the rhythmic ticks, like a fingernail on glass, or sharp-heeled shoes clacking across the Bellamy ballroom tiles. Then there was a sudden bang and flash of fire. Sophia jumped, caught her breath, and smiled.

“Oh, Spear, that’s really very good.”

Spear grinned back at her. He looked just like he had when he was thirteen and her father had given him a colt for his birthday. “I put a little bit of the black powder from the sanctuary in it,” he said, holding up a small bottle from the sacking. “It’s loud, but it works much better that way.”

René had recovered from any surprise and was on his knees at the table, peering at the mechanism closely in the sunlight. “And where did you put the powder, Hammond?” When Spear pointed, he said, “May I?”

Spear reluctantly handed over the bottle and René sprinkled just a little where Spear had shown him. He checked the time, turned the wheel in the back to only a little past where Spear had set it, and pulled out the knob. They waited. A whir, a snap from the iron arm, another startling bang as the flame flared.

“This is to light the Bellamy fire?” René asked, gaze still on the machine. He hadn’t moved, even when it flashed.

“Yes, that’s right,” Sophia said when Spear didn’t answer. The smell in the air was sharp in her nose. “It will catch the greased fuse on fire, so the tubes can explode while we’re well away.”

René straightened, sitting back on his boot heels. “I see.”

Sophia tucked her feet beneath her, watching her hands. That story had sounded feeble even to her. The firelighter was going deep into the Tombs, where the barrels of Bellamy fire she’d been having delivered were disguised and stored. But she would not set it until the mob had cleared from the prison yard, and that could take a long time if they were expecting an execution, especially the Red Rook’s execution. Especially an execution that wouldn’t happen because the Red Rook was not there. She might spend all night playing hide-and-seek with LeBlanc. And the Tombs would be swarming with gendarmes after the prisoners were gone. An anthill stirred with a stick.

Spear leaned into the couch beside her and threw an arm along the back of it, as if they were sitting there … together. Sophia closed her eyes, absorbing her frustration.

“You should think about how the firelighter will be packed,” René was saying. “They may be searching at the gates, and they will not let this through, I think.”

He was right. The firelighter had to be breaking at least ten anti-technology laws at once.

“And there is another thing we should discuss.”

Sophia opened her eyes. Everything about him was fiery where the sunlight hit, but his tone had gone cold. He dropped into the chair again.

“You may remember that in the Upper City I am known as something of a … pleasure seeker. And Miss Bellamy will be coming as my fiancée, to an engagement party which my cousin must attend. It is essential that this part of our ruse is successful, yes? Or the plan will not work at all.”

Sophia got up from the couch and went to the window, where she could see the vague forms of trees. “What are you getting at, Hasard?” Spear asked.

“I am saying that when LeBlanc hears my marriage to the sister of the Red Rook goes forward, he will be filled with suspicion. But when he hears that it is a match of love, he will be curious. And it is this curiosity that will bring the guests, and LeBlanc, to the door of my flat. Our upcoming marriage must be the talk of the Upper City. It must be in the newspapers. That should not be so difficult. Most of the reporters who write these things are … friends …”

Sophia wondered what Madame Hasard paid them.